Vladimir Putin’s popularity at record high levels confusing American media

The American media has worked overtime in trying to convince the Russian people into believing that Vladimir Putin is bad for Russia. For years the American media had flooded Russian social outlets with negative stories about the Russian president, this has included propping up Anti Putin opponents in Russia in an attempt to sway the Russian people away from their leader, but the attempts have failed. For more than 20 years, negative Putin media campaigns aimed at younger generation Russians have been produced by the west, yet they have never been successful in influencing many people, and according to a new poll the war in Ukraine is no exception.

This week NBC and CNN news anchors were dumbfounded (live on air) at a new poll showing 83% of Russians support President Putin and his invasion of Ukraine. To put it bluntly Putin is smashing popularity records in Russia, confusing those in the American media.

American media can’t figure out Putin

Since the invasion of Ukraine, there has been a 24-hour bashing of Vladimir Putin from news outlets in Europe and the United States, reports of Russian chemical weapons, bombing of a children’s hospital, shelling of a maternity ward, and accusations of war crimes with hypersonic missiles, yet Putin’s popularity has risen confusing western media outlets.

The war in Ukraine was a golden opportunity for the American media to label Putin as a menace to the world, many compared him to Hitler, the poster child of evil.

Since the start of the war Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and American TV networks have flooded the west with anti-Russian narratives, what many may not be aware of is how these companies also tried to spread the same stories in Putin’s Russia. Media works best with a simple message to the audience, in the case of the war it is “Ukraine Good, and Russia Bad”; the facts really do not matter as to why there is a war. The Ukrainian President Zelensky is cast as the innocent, boyish savior in the white hat, being attacked by the bad black hat Russians for absolutely no reason at all.

In the world of American and Western European media, Putin just woke up one day and said, “Let’s invade Ukraine for fun”, this is how the story is presented in America. As exaggerated as this may sound that is the exact story that has been sold to the American and in most of Western Europe, and it has worked in the U.S.  The problem with American media attempting to influence Russians is that American news corporations do not realize the utter lack of trust Russians have in all media outlets. Europeans in general are savvier to the deceptions of mainstream media than Americans, Donald Trump opened the eyes of Americans to the crookedness of western media, but Europeans have been aware of news media propaganda since before World War 2.

American media campaign backfires with Russians

The war in Ukraine has actually made Russian President Vladimir Putin more popular in Russia than ever before. Eighty-three percent of Russians said they approve of Mr. Putin, up from sixty nine percent in January, according to a poll by the Levada Center, an independent pollster. Ratings of many other government institutions, as well as the governing party, have also gone up, the poll indicated. The invasion of Ukraine has given Putin a massive popularity bump, and those who know Europe will not be shocked.  Putin is 100% pro Russia, he is a president the Russian people secretly love, Russians are secure with Putin at the helm, let the Americans hate him. Teenagers in Russia have never known another president, Putin is the tough guy that can put America and NATO in line, Zelensky is viewed as another American puppet. Russians know that if America and NATO get too aggressive Putin will act, it is something that Russians respect.

Why is U.S media wrong so often?

The answer to the question is they do not understand average Americans, the working-class men and women who will never earn the money of the people on television are an enigma to the people writing our news scripts. The U.S mainstream media still cannot understand Donald' Trump’s popularity with the working-class population. Overpaid, smug, arrogant news anchors thought they knew Trump better than the people did, they were wrong.

Donald Trump’s greatest legacy will be turning the American people away from the mainstream media, the ratings of CNN, ABC, NBC, and CBS are historically low, it is the Trump presidency that truly opened the eyes of the people to media propaganda. The American media has made President Zelensky a star, but his popularity will not last, Americans have little taste for Eastern Europe. Putin will long outlast Zelensky, he is built for the battle, Zelensky may have a future on American television but as a miliary leader his act will wear thin.